Super Bowl Saturday: Best of the best

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Mission accomplished

This isn’t the first time Abington has gone undefeated in the regular season, but it is the first time the Green Wave kept up the success into the postseason. In 2006, Abington went 11-0 but fell to Medfield in the semifinals. The same was true in 2008, when Abington again went 11-0 but lost to Norton in the semifinals. This year, an 11-0 regular season was followed by a semifinal win over Millis-Hopedale, then Saturday’s win over St. Mary’s in the Division 4 Super Bowl. The title was the Green Wave’s first since 2005, when Abington beat Archbishop Williams. That year, Abington went 8-3 in the regular season. Abington also won in 2002 after going 9-1.

Score to settle

You wouldn’t think a 27-7 lead over Mansfield would be cause for concern on the Reading side but here’s guessing that more than a few Rocket fans knew the game was a long way from over. Two years ago against Mansfield, Reading had a 26-7 lead at the half and watched as the Hornets came back to take a 29-26 win. But this year the Reading defense, a defense that held opponents to under 5 points per game in the regular season, stood its ground and kept Mansfield from scoring. Reading won, 27-7, to finish the season 13-0 — and maybe erase a few bad memories.

201 reasons to celebrate

With a 48-28 win over Brockton in the Division 1 Super Bowl, St. John’s Prep coach Jim O’Leary recorded his 201st career win. But O’Leary humbly attributed the success to his players. “It’s still about the kids,” said O’Leary, who’s in his 29th season. “I didn’t take a snap, I didn’t throw a pass, and I didn’t tackle anybody.”

Brotherly love

Sean Valente, a member of the freshman team at Reading, got to dress and see his brother Alex help the Rockets to a 27-7 win over Mansfield in the Division 2 Super Bowl. After the game, Sean leaped in to the arms of his brother, who rushed for a 99-yard score in the first quarter.

“He did everything you needed to, you really can’t ask anything more than that,” said Sean Valente.
“Its just great being with the brotherhood [in Reading]. They work hard up there [on varsity]. They don’t care whether you’re a freshman or a junior. They all just work as hard as they can to get you better and themselves better.”

Double dare

Barnstable senior quarterback Nick Peabody was held to 8 for 28 passing with two interceptions and three touchdowns. He said Everett’s defense issued a clear challenge. “They were playing a 4-2 with the safety way up, so it was more like a 4-3 and a cover-zero, basically. They were daring us to throw it over the top. Just daring us.”

Everett coach John DiBiaso said his defense wasn’t much different than in the September matchup.

“We did almost the same thing that we did last time [in a 13-7 loss]. We just had a couple more wrinkles.”